In the late 1980s and early 1990s it was believed that a top-secret reconnaissance aircraft, capable of flying at speeds beyond Mach 6, was developed to replace the SR-71 Blackbird. The alleged project was detailed in mainstream media including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Jane's Defence Weekly, and Aviation Week & Space Technology.

The name Aurora was included in a Pentagon budget request in 1985, perhaps inadvertently, underneath reconnaissance programs of the SR-71 and U-2. The Aurora has been attributed to scores of unidentified aircraft reports around the world, including a 1989 sighting from an oil platform in the North Sea, a series of mysterious sonic booms over Southern California in 1991-92, and photographs of unusual 'donuts-on-a-rope' contrails.

However, the United States government denies the existence of such an aircraft, and no absolute evidence has ever confirmed the rumors. Speculation about an Aurora project has mostly died away since the late 1990s, and over the years it has acquired a reputation as a 'flying saucer story.' Wherever the truth may lie, it is the goal of the Aurora Aircraft Page to provide information for you to help divide fact from fiction in the quest to solve this elusive story.